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Woman Quits Femininity

She is hanging up her mask,
colourful as it is,
they say “easy on the eye”.
Let the glances fall where they may,
they won’t touch her.

She is taking off her heels.
No, they won’t make her
reach the stars, no more
tiptoeing through life.
Time to put her foot down,
stand her ground.

She is throwing out her razor,
it’s no longer appealing
to throw out time and money. Instead
she will sharpen her tongue
to cut off opinions not called for.

She is stepping off the scales –
they can’t measure up to her.
She will feed her hunger,
no need to deny herself
humanity.

Irina Frolova

Irina Frolova is a Russian-born Australian poet who lives in Lake Macquarie with her three human and two feline children. Irina’s poetry is intercultural, feminist and largely auto-biographical. Her writing explores human psychology, cultural identity, womanhood, relationships and connection to nature.

A photograph of Emma Barker, the daughter of Elizabeth Baldwin Barker and niece of George Baldwin. Source: Tyrell Historical Library, AC339-016-021-001.

Miles Franklin, author, 1901, Rozelle, Auburn St. Goulburn, NSW. Source: State Library of New South Wales: : acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=448208

Film actor Helen Twelvetrees and her 1935 Pontiac, Cinesound Studios, Sydney, 1936. Helen Twelvetrees was one of the first American women to star in an Australian film. Photographer: Sam Hood. Source: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales: acms.sl.nsw.gov.au/item/itemDetailPaged.aspx?itemID=153778

Scenes on the Western Front, Drivers of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry in their fur coats. Source: National Library of Scotland, digital.nls.uk/74548028. Photographer: John Warwick Brooke. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence BY-NC-SA 4.0

Four young women with their bicycles on the beach, Moruya, New South Wales, ca. 1900. Source: National Library of Australia, nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn4587429

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